One Accident after Another
by quiet-raindrop
Summary: There are accidents, and then there are happy accidents. For Dick and Babs, when one happens the other is not far behind. Now, if they can only figure out which is which. . .


**Author's Note: **I guess this is fluff. I try not to write straight up fluff. I try for fluff with plot.

**Disclaimer:** I'm not feeling witty today, so I will just say that I do not own any of these characters.

* * *

One Accident after Another

* * *

It sounded as if someone was saying his name, but they sounded so far away.

He tried to remember where he was, what he was doing.

"Dick? Dick? DICK?" The voice called more urgently. He slowly opened his eyes.

He blinked a few times as if he couldn't even figure out what he was looking at.

"Dick? Please say something. I'm freaking out here." The figure told him. He blinked a few more times.

"Babs?" He said the name uneasily. The girl sighed.

"Yes, but how many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"Not enough I guess." He said as he tried to sit up. She stopped him.

"Don't get up! I think you may have a concussion." She informed him.

"A concussion? How would I get one?" He asked her still confused.

She looked sheepish.

"I told you that I bet that you couldn't climb that big tree in the park and you tried, and well. . ." She grimaced. "Your hand slipped on a wet branch and you fell to the ground hitting your head on the way down. I am so in trouble."

Dick blinked.

"We're in the park?" He asked. All he could see was the sky and some branches at this point.

She nodded. He tried to sit up again.

"Stop!" She scolded as she carefully kept him down.

"Could you stop doing that?" He asked.

"I don't want you sitting up!"

"Well you're not the one with your head on a tree root!" He argued. She looked around biting her lip.

"Okay well _carefully_ lift your head up. Just a bit." She instructed. As he did she slid her legs underneath so as to cradle his head in her lap.

"Okay. How is that? Dick? DICK?"

"Huh?" His eyes came open again. "So what is going on?" He asked.

"Oh, dear. I really am in trouble." Barbara moaned. "If Alfred doesn't kill me, my dad will."

Dick blinked a few more times as if trying to register what was happening.

"And please stop closing your eyes. I feel like you are going to die suddenly or something." She told him.

"Don't worry Babs, I have a hard head." Dick told her sleepily. "Alfred told me so."

Barbara managed a grin.

"I think he means that you are stubborn." She looked down at him as she spoke. Dick's eyes seem to get wider.

"Really? I guess I never thought of it that way before." He managed to joke. "I feel tired."

"I know, but I need you to stay awake okay? At least until the paramedics arrive."

"The paramedics?" He repeated.

"I called them as soon as you fell and I couldn't get you up. I called them, and then I called Alfred, so he should be here soon too." She recited off to him.

"How long was I out? You didn't need to call everyone on the planet Babs."

"I didn't!" She argued. "Why do you always . . . don't close your eyes!" She said again suddenly.

"Could you stop yelling at me? I already have a headache." He said softly.

"I'm sorry." She said pitifully. "I shouldn't have told you that I didn't think that you could do it."

"I'm not six Babs, honestly. It's my own fault. I don't miss too often." He quietly ended by saying.

She ran her hand through his black hair to keep it out of his eyes.

"Has the sky always been that blue?"

She looked upwards and smiled back down at him.

"I think so." She said.

"Do you see that spaceship up there?"

Barbara looked down at him in alarm.

He noticed her expression.

"I'm not losing it. In the clouds I mean." He raised his hand up to point.

Barbara looked relieved. She bent over him to try and see the cloud from his perspective.

"Uh, maybe. It's kind of has big wings though, for a spaceship I mean." She told him.

"Hey do you mind? I'm still down here." He broke in saying. She realized that most of her hair was in his face from her attempt to look at the cloud.

"Oh, sorry!" She pushed her hair back behind her shoulders. "How you feeling now?"

"My head hurts, I feel sore, and sleepy." He said softly.

They sat there for a few minutes more. The park was empty since the rain had just stopped not long after they had arrived. The clouds had rolled back to reveal a perfect blue sky. It hadn't rained much, but enough to give everything a slick coating.

Time seemed to be standing still for Barbara as she sat there looking down at him. Why on earth was this taking so long? For how long would she be grounded for? What if Dick was really hurt badly?

"Don't worry too much."

His voice made her come out of her thoughts.

"Yea?" She asked uncertainly. He grinned.

"Yea. I'll be fine." He said. She nodded and ran a hand through his hair again.

She looked up hoping to see an ambulance pull up; she kept hearing sirens, but none came.

"Come on, come on." She muttered to herself. "I am so in trouble." She repeated again.

"Hey, it's my fault okay? It was a stupid thing to try to do, I should have known better." Dick said speaking up.

Barbara looked back down at him.

"Don't try to make me feel better."

"You can't take all the blame Babs." He took a long breath after he spoke. She looked worried again.

She watched as Dick seemed to be surveying the tree.

"You know, I think I'm going to try that again sometime. Can't have a tree beating me."

Barbara stared at him dumbfounded.

"Your are going to be lucky if Alfred lets you within five yards away from a sapling at this point!" She exclaimed. Dick gave a sleepy grin.

"Yea, maybe." He admitted. He shifted his head from side to side uncomfortably in her lap.

"Are you doing okay?" She asked.

"My situation hasn't changed much." He mentioned. She looked around at the parking lot again.

"Hey, what day is it?" He asked randomly.

"Oh, ah, Tuesday." She answered.

"Oh, that explains things."

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"I was wondering why we didn't have that test in chemistry today. I'm glad I didn't ask somebody, I thought it was Wednesday. Man, would I have looked stupid." He looked back up at the tree. "But maybe after this I am."

"Stop it. Everyone knows you're smart." She chastised him.

"Now _you _don't try to make me feel better." He said. He stared back at the tree with determination.

"Okay, now I am definitely trying that again sometime." He tried to sit up and once again Babs kept him down.

"Just stay down okay? It shouldn't be too much longer." She could tell that he was feeling a bit more like himself since he was fighting her.

He tapped his fingers impatiently against the grass.

"If they take any longer, I could probably just walk there." He offered.

"No way, I would carry you before I let that happen!" She argued. He snorted.

"Yea that I would like to see." He chuckled a bit.

"I bet I could." She said defensively.

"Sure thing Babs." He said once again sounding sleepy as he closed his eyes.

"Don't close your eyes!" She said again.

"Well, stop running your hand through my hair! It's making me sleepy."

Her hand froze. She didn't realize that she had still been doing that.

"Oh, sorry." She placed her hand back on the ground. He grinned.

"It's okay. Felt nice." He muttered. He stared back up at her. "You know what Babs?"

"What?" She asked.

"You're pretty."

She looked down at him somewhat stunned. Her face lightly flushed.

"How hard did you hit your head Dick?" She said trying to turn it into a joke.

"Why?" He asked blinking a few times as if he couldn't remember.

"Because you . . .you said . . ." She fumbled to say the words. He cocked his head to one side while looking up at her. He seemed to find her perplexed state amusing. He blinked a few more times, and closed his eyes again.

"Dick? Dick?" She tried to jiggling his shoulder. His eyes didn't open.

"Oh my WORD!" Barbara panicked.

She looked up at the parking lot as she heard the sound of screeching tires across the pavement. She watched as a black Rolls-Royce pulled in at an alarming rate and parked suddenly, taking up three whole parking spaces.

Alfred hastily got out and ran as quickly as he could to where they were.

"Miss Gordon! Master Richard!" He called out as he quickly approached.

"Alfred!" Barbara cried out. "You made it here before the ambulance did!"

Alfred knelt down to inspect the boy.

"Well, to be honest Miss Gordon I passed several emergency vehicles along the way. Unfortunately, in this city, they usually kept busy." He said.

"He hasn't been out for too long." Barbara told him. "He was talking for a bit."

"Well, that is good to hear." Alfred said although he sounded grim.

"Alfred?" Dick asked suddenly opening his eyes.

"Master Dick?" Alfred asked softly. "How do you feel?"

"Foggy. My head hurts." He said sounding groggy.

"It's all my fault." Barbara told the butler.

"No matter, Miss Gordon." Alfred said carefully scooping the boy up. "We just need to get him to a hospital. Barbara stood up and followed him to the parking lot.

Just as they got there, an ambulance pulled up.

A lady got out of the front.

"Are you the girl that called about the hurt boy?" She asked Barbara.

She nodded rapidly.

Alfred carefully handed the Dick over to the man in the back of the ambulance and climbed in himself.

"Are you coming Miss Gordon?" He held out a hand to her. Barbara turned to stare where Alfred had left the car.

"Is it okay for you to leave the car parked that way?" She asked.

"It won't be a problem." He said dismissively as he helped her into the back. The paramedic shut the doors and the vehicle quickly sped away.

* * *

Barbara kept pacing outside in the waiting room. Everything seemed to be taking forever today. The waiting room was fairly busy with people coming in and out. There was no place to really sit, which was okay with her. She couldn't sit still at the moment. She kept looking back and forth staring at the generic paintings of flowers that hung on the bland colored walls.

The door finally opened to reveal Alfred.

"So how is he? Is he going to be alright?" She peppered him with questions. "Can I see him?"

Alfred held up his hands to stem the tide of questions.

"They believe him to be okay. It's only a mild concussion, but they are going to keep him here." Alfred explained as they walked down the hall.

"Were you able to get a hold of Mr. Wayne?" She asked.

"He is tied up at the office but he said that he would try and make it over here as soon as possible."

Barbara rolled her eyes. What was with that guy? He really couldn't spare a few minutes for Dick's sake?

"Here we are," Alfred said stopping along the hallway, "Master Richard was awake when I left him to fetch you, but he is supposed to get some rest so you don't have much time." He informed her.

"That's fine Alfred, I'll be quick. My dad is supposed to come pick me up soon anyway. I called him while I waited."

"Alright my dear, I shall be down the hall, if you need me." Alfred pointed. "I have to talk to more doctors and make a few more calls."

She watched as he walked off, and then slowly opened the door.

Although Dick didn't look too different, he somehow looked helpless laying there on the hospital bed.

She softly walked over and sat down on the chair that was near the bed. She tried scooting the chair forward, but when she did it gave off a horrible screech.

She turned suddenly to check if he had woken up, and was met by his blue eyes.

"Oh, hi." She said softly.

"Hey, you missed it. They put me in this big scanning machine. It was like out of a movie."

She smiled at his attempt to make light of the situation.

"How are you doing now?" She asked.

He shrugged.

"Hard to say. Fine I guess. Sleepy. How are you?" He asked her.

"Oh, I'm alright. A bit on edge I guess. You scared me." She told him honestly.

"I'm sorry. I still don't remember much." He rubbed the top of his head gingerly. "But they tell me that's common."

Babs rubbed her hands together.

"It's my fault. I dared you to climb up a tree and it was still slippery from the rain." She said it quietly fearing his anger.

"So what do I get?" He asked.

"For what?" She was now confused.

"For climbing up the tree. What did I get for doing the dare?" He repeated.

Barbara was quiet.

"Oh. Uh, I don't think I said.

Dick was then quiet.

"Wow, I am not too bright am I? I took a risk for no reward. Can I choose something then?" He asked her.

"Well, technically, you didn't make it all the way up," She reminded him trying to be lighthearted, "But sure, you can choose something. Just let me know okay?" Her phone vibrated as she spoke.

"Do you have to go?" He guessed.

"Yea, my dad's here to get me."

"Too bad I was hoping that you could stay."

"You are supposed to get some sleep silly. We can talk later okay?" She promised.

"I suppose." He conceded. Barbara walked back over to the door, but then turned around.

"Hey Dick, do you remember . . .much about what you said to me after the accident?" She questioned.

He though for a moment.

"Not really too much. Why?"

"Oh, nothing important." She turned back to the door.

"Why? Did I say something stupid or something?" He inquired somewhat groggily.

Barbara kept her face to the door so as not to look directly at him and shook her head.

"Never mind, it's no big deal. I'll see you tomorrow okay?" She turned back to face him, but he was already asleep.

* * *

School the next day without Dick felt odd. There was no one to greet her in the hall with a goofy story, no one to trade bored glance with in English, and absolutely no one trying to steal her cookie at lunch.

Funny, how she missed that last one.

After school, she quickly made her way over to the hospital. She skipped the elevator, and chose to climb up all the flights of stairs to reach Dick's room. Unfortunately by the time she reached his floor, her legs were about to give out. She sat outside in the hallway until she could catch her breath.

"Miss Gordon? Are you alright?"

She looked up to see Alfred peering down at her in concern.

She stood up. "Oh, yea. I took the stairs, and am now regretting it." She explained.

"Ah, I see." He smiled looking relieved that nothing was wrong with her.

"How is Dick doing?" She asked. Alfred smiled.

"He has been up since five wanting to know when he can leave. He's less groggy, but occasionally gets a bad headache again. They might let him go tomorrow. He's asked after you at least eleven times." He told her.

"He knows what time school gets out." Barbara said with a laugh.

"Go on in, I'm sure that he would love to see you." Alfred said, although he knew that she needed no prompting.

Barbara grabbed her backpack off the floor and walked two doors over and knocked.

"Babs? Come in!" Dick's cheerful voice rang out from behind the door. She shook her head as she grinned while opening the door.

"I feel like I have been trapped in here forever!" He announced as she came in. He had the window thrown open to let in the bright sunlight. "Alfred will hardly let me walk anywhere without him and there is absolutely nothing to do! What on earth took you so long?" He asked.

"Well, I don't know," She began jokingly. "How about school?"

Dick cocked his head.

"Yea, what is with that? Did they decide to have an extra long day or something?"

"I think time is just going slowly since you are trapped in the same room." She explained with a smile.

"Yea, maybe." He conceded. "You didn't have any fun without me, right?" He asked.

"I can't disclose that." Barbara said mysteriously.

"Well, you better not have." He said seriously.

"And luckily for you," Barbara began digging into her bag, "I have notes of everything you need." He took the papers with reluctance.

She climbed up to sit on the side of his bed.

"Thanks Babs." He said genuinely. He shuffled through them quickly and then dropped them on a table next his bed and promptly fell back into his pillow.

"I am so ready to leave." He moaned up to the ceiling.

"I know, I'm sorry." Barbara said biting her lip.

Dick cracked open an eye.

"Babs you have got to stop doing that."

"Doing what?" She asked.

"Apologizing for something that isn't your fault." He expounded.

"But, I . . ."

"It's _my _fault okay? So stop blaming yourself or I won't talk to you for a week." He threatened.

"You couldn't go five minutes without talking to me." She said positively.

"Yes I . . . yea I couldn't." He admitted freely while grinning at her. Barbara slumped her shoulders.

"I just feel badly."

"Well, don't." He told her as he sat up again. "And if you want to make me feel better, I've decided what I want for winning the bet." Barbara looked over at him with interest.

"Yea what do you want?"

Dick leaned forward conspiratorially.

"Actually, I need you to give me something."

Barbara raised an eyebrow.

"Why me?" She asked hesitantly.

"Because you are the only person who can." He said with a grin.

He didn't say anything else as he continued to stare at her. Barbara felt herself flush slightly as a thought solidified in her head.

Turning slightly to face him better, she quickly leaned over and kissed him on the lips. Dick made an "mmph" sound as she did.

She didn't quite know how long kisses were supposed to be, so she just counted to ten and pulled away. Though to be honest, she might have stretched it out to twelve or thirteen.

When she did eventually pull back, Dick's eyes were wide open and his face was flushed bright red.

"Tha . . . tha . . . tha . . . that's not what I meant." He sputtered out blinking rapidly.

Barbara sat there too horrified to say anything.

She knew that her face was the color of her hair, but she managed to force out a sentence.

"What . . . what did you want?"

Dick blinked again before answering. "That . . . that rock that you found last week. The one shaped like a fish remember?" He said trying to regain his composure from the recent event.

Barbara wordlessly jumped down off the bed and grabbed her backpack. Fishing around inside, she pulled out the slightly dirty rock and dropped it into Dick's open hand.

"Um, Babs . . ." He started to say, but not before Barbara was practically out the door.

"Babs!"

She heard him call out through the door as she quickly walked down the hall once again forgoing the elevator to take the long lonely trek back to street level.

* * *

Dick sat there dumbfounded. Did Barbara just kiss him? What brought that on? He looked back down at the rock in his hand. He played with it between his fingers. He leaned back against his pillow.

It was his first kiss with Barbara and for a minute, he had been too stunned to do or say anything after she pulled back.

Did she somehow know that he liked her? He really didn't think he had let on _that _much. He was still working things out—like what to say and how to say it. And then in a heartbeat, right when he could have actually said something—he blanked. Completely, utterly blanked.

He looked back at the close door wondering if she was coming back. The doorknob moved.

"Ah, Master Dick, is Miss Gordon gone? She didn't stay very long." Alfred commented not noticing how the boy's face fell.

"Something came up." Dick said feebly.

"I see." Alfred responded surveying him. "Well, you should be happy to hear that you can go home tomorrow." Alfred waited for a happy response. He didn't get one. "Master Dick you get to home tomorrow." He repeated.

"Oh, okay." Dick answered staring into his hand.

"And if I do say so myself, it will be quite nice getting home. The coffee here is positively ghastly, and I hazard to mention their tea."

"Yea, it will be good to get back. Did you see Barbara in the hall?"

"I did not." Alfred told him. "Did she say she was coming back? I wish she would have told me she was leaving, I would not want her to get lost in this place."

"She won't get lost." Dick said with certainty. He rolled the rock around again and stared back out the window into the bright sunlight.

* * *

Neither Alfred, nor Bruce would allow Dick to go back to school the next day despite the boy's protests. Alfred carefully monitored every move the boy made in attempt to quell any problem the boy might encounter.

So, as fate would have it, Dick was once again trapped this time in a much larger and comfortable space, not going to school, and hoping that Barbara was going to stop by.

He didn't have much hope. He had tried calling her twice and had texted numerous times with absolutely no response. He sighed and looked out the window.

"Hey Alfred, I going outside okay?" To be honest, he didn't say this too loudly in hopes of just being able to sneak out. Unfortunately, Alfred heard him.

"No you don't Master Dick, not without supervision." He reminded him.

"Supervision? Come on Alfred? Just down the driveway?" Dick pleaded. Alfred looked at the boy sternly. Dick held his breath. If Alfred didn't agree, _nothing _he could say would change his mind.

"Just down the walk and back up. You have twelve minutes. If you are not back in that time and I find you lying on the ground you will not leave this house for a week." Alfred said seriously.

Dick nodded. He was just happy to have some freedom.

"Okay. I'll be fine!" He called walking over to the front door. Alfred stood there looking concerned as the door shut.

Dick took in a deep breath of the outdoors. It was nice to be back. He started off running down the drive, but stopped as his head began throbbing slightly. He slowed his pace down to a walk.

He wondered if Babs was out of school yet. She should be. Would she stop by? He sighed as the gates to Wayne Manor came into sight. A person stood on the other side looking up at the building.

"Barbara!" He called up picking up his pace a bit. She initially looked startled, but she stayed put.

"Dick? What are you doing outside?" She asked. He gave her a look.

"Don't act like I'm an escaped zoo animal." That earned him a smile. He leaned his hands against the bars of the fence.

"Well, at the moment you look like one." She said. He took his hands off the bars and walked over to a small box off to one side of the gate and punched in the code.

The large gates slowly opened.

"Ta da!" He announced grandly. Barbara hesitatingly made her way in.

"I was hoping that you were coming by." He mentioned. The only response he got was a shrug.

"How was school?" He asked.

"Long." Was her only response.

"Oh," He stopped to check his watch. "I've only got nine minutes left before Alfred wants me back." He explained.

"Alfred has you on a tight leash huh?" She asked. Dick sighed.

"He is acting paranoid. I can't make a move without him thinking that I'm about to endanger my life."

"Well, it _was _pretty scary" Barbara said as they lazily walked up the path. Dick glanced at the various gardens that lay around the manor trying to think of what to say.

"Hey, Babs . . ." He began stopping walking.

"I'm sorry." She said shortly as she kept walking. He caught up with her and made her stop.

"No I'm sorry." He said firmly. They stared at each other for a moment.

"No, it was my fault." Barbara said looking behind him instead of directly at him.

"What did I tell you about apologizing?" He reminded her.

"Wait, which accident are we talking about?" She asked. Dick looked confused.

"There was more then one?" He said.

"I was talking about yesterday." She said quietly.

"That was an accident?" Dick asked, now completely disheartened. Their first kiss had been an _accident_? Barbara shrugged his hands off her shoulders and kept walking.

He watched her go trying desperately to make sense of things. He caught up with her again.

"Wait, so what made you do it?" He asked.

"Please don't ask me that." She said without looking at him. They kept walking.

"Come on Babs, you can't just . . ." He tried to say.

"I just put things together wrong. Okay? It was something you accidentally said." She tried to brush the question off.

Dick stopped walking.

"Hold on. When I accidentally said what? When was that? How many accidents are we on now?" He asked now completely confused.

Barbara took a deep breath and said, "I guess it would have been the second accident if were speaking chronologically."

"Chronologically?" He repeated. "My head is starting to hurt." Barbara looked concerned.

"I mean this is confusing, not that my actual head hurts. Well, it does a bit." He admitted. They both went silent.

Dick stared at her trying desperately to remember anything that he said to her.

"I said something to you? When we were in the park?" He tried guessing.

"It was when you were still stunned from hitting your head, but really it doesn't matter alright?" She tried to keep walking, but Dick stopped her with his hand.

"I told you that you were beautiful. Is that it?" He said slowly recalling bits and pieces from his blackout.

Barbara played with the strap of her backpack.

"Well, you actually said 'pretty' but . . . never mind." She said waving him off with a hand as she started walking.

Dick stood there trying to figure out what to do.

"That would be my luck." He called out after her. She stopped moving, and seemed to be listening.

"To finally tell the girl I have a crush on that she's pretty and then have almost no memory of it."

He waited for her to say something; he slightly feared that she wouldn't answer. After a minute, she slowly turned around surveying him carefully.

"Are you just saying that? You're not joking are you?" Her green eyes watched him carefully.

"Of course not Babs, I would never joke about something like this." He said assuredly walking back close to her.

Barbara glanced around.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Yes, my saying that to you wasn't an accident. Just my timing was." He said sheepishly running a hand through his hair. "So if _that _wasn't an accident does that really make yesterday an accident?" He asked her.

"I guess not." She said simply, not daring to say anything more.

"So . . ." He began with a sparkle back in his eye.

"So. . ." She repeated with a smile while reaching out linking her hand into his.

They both stared at each other somewhat awkwardly with a smile on their face. Dick tugged her a bit closer to himself. She let out a small laugh.

They both leaned slowly towards one another until their lips gently touched. Dick wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her just a bit closer before letting her go.

They pulled back. Both of them stared into the others eyes.

"See?" Dick said. "That wasn't an accident." Barbara rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"I guess not." She told him.

"And if it is . . ." He said while flushing a bit, "I wouldn't mind if happened more often." A slight pink color came into Barbara's cheeks as she linked arms with him.

"Come on you; let's get you back inside before Alfred fears the worst." She said starting to walk again.

Dick could not help but think that it had been the best series of accidents ever. Well, the first one not so much, the second one was unplanned, the third one was unexpected but enjoyable, but the fourth one . . . that was wonderful.

He could only hope for more to come, but he was starting to lose track of the numbers. His head was starting to hurt, but he was happy.

* * *

Alright you know the drill. Advice, and (gentle) [be nice please! :}] criticism, would be appreciated. Or a haiku if you feel like one.


End file.
